We Are Free In these Chains

I have concluded my reading of The Tyranny of Words by one of the most prolific exponents and popularizer of General Semantics, Mr. Stuart Chase, just in time for the 2nd meeting of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian General Semantics Society which will again be chaired by Mr. Laurie Cox and Mr. Robert James.

I have read extensively on GS for a while now; Science and Sanity by Korzybski, Language in Thought and Action by Hayakawa, as well as Levels of Knowing and Existence by Weinberg, Science and the Goals of Man by Rapoport and other GS influenced texts by Robert Anton Wilson, Karl Popper and Albert Ellis. I have to say, I have never read such a profound and forward-looking text as Chase's, as he synthesizes the major strands (1933) of semantic thought and guides the reader through a thorough, referent-based analysis of economics, politics, sociology and media reporting. Even his language as he dissects passages filled with higher-order abstraction "blabs" (as he calls them) does not seem dated; rather timeless and loaded with a message that we all should heed as we steer ourselves into waters that are filled with empty references, inaccurate inferences and in some cases, outright fabrications.

One of the more intriguing ideas he raises (although he makes completely brilliant points almost consistently throughout) is that semantic training should be made compulsory for those wishing to seek employ the following professions:

Writers of books and articles dealing with social questions Editorial writers—no exceptions
Reporters and journalists, to keep them from confusing facts with inferences
Government executives
Senators, Congressmen, state and local legislators
Diplomats and writers of state papers
Judges, lawyers, and juries. Every juryman should pass a test in semantics before admission to the box
Lecturers, radio speakers, chairmen of forums, dealing with social problems
Teachers and professors—no exceptions
Mothers and fathers who do not want their children to be
badly hurt when they must face the outside world alone
And all consumers of the verbal output from the above classes — just in case the goods are not as advertised. Semantics might be called a testing bureau for the consumer of language.

Imagine a world communicating as clearly possible! Also, I plan to introduce some points of discussion for tomorrow:

Social media and GS: Are one's Facebook status or tweets regarded as an accurate mapping of the territory?
How can GS principles be used to communicate clearly with others who are untrained in or unfamiliar with GS?

A general write up will follow the meeting.